The paschal season of the Church is preceded by the season of Great Lent, which is also preceded by its own liturgical preparation. The first sign of the approach of Great Lent comes five Sundays before its beginning. On this Sunday the Gospel reading is about Zacchaeus the tax-collector. It tells…
On the Sunday closest to January 25, the Church commemorates the Synaxis of the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, remembering all those Orthodox Christians who suffered for Christ at the hands of the godless Soviets during the years of persecution. These include the royal Passion Bearers…
Saint Gregory the Theologian, Archbishop of Constantinople, a great Father and teacher of the Church, was born into a Christian family of eminent lineage in the year 329, at Arianzos (not far from the city of Cappadocian Nazianzos). His father, also named Gregory (January 1), was Bishop of…
Saint Moses, Archbishop of Novgorod (1325-1330, 1352-1359), in the world Metrophanes, was born at Novgorod. In his youth he secretly left his home and entered Tver’s Otroch monastery, where he became a monk. His parents found him, and at their insistence he transferred to a monastery near…
The Holy Martyr Felicitas with her Seven Sons, Januarius, Felix, Philip, Silvanus, Alexander, Vitalius and Marcial. Saint Felicitas was born of a rich Roman family. She boldly confessed before the emperor and civil authorities that she was a Christian. The pagan priests said that she was insulting…
Saint Publius of Syria was born in the city of Zeugma on the Euphrates and was a senator. Renouncing the world, he gave away his possessions, became a monk, and lived an ascetical life in a cave on a mountain in the Syrian wilderness. Saint Publius founded two monasteries: one for Greeks, and…
Saint Mares the Singer lived in a hut in fasting and prayer for thirty-seven years in the village of Homeron, not far from the city of Cyrrhus in Syria. He ate rough food, and wore clothes made from the hide of wild goats. He was handsome, and had a pleasant singing voice. Saint Mares reposed in…
The “Assuage my Sorrows” Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos was glorified at Moscow by many miracles in the second half of the eighteenth century, particularly during a plague in 1771. The icon had been brought to Moscow by Cossacks in 1640 in the reign of Tsar Michael (1613-1645), and…
The “Unexpected Joy” Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, is painted in this way: in a room is an icon of the Mother of God, and beneath it a youth is kneeling at prayer. The tradition about the healing of some youth from a bodily affliction through this holy icon is recorded in the book of…
The holy Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev was the first bishop to be tortured and slain by the Communists at the time of the Russian Revolution. Basil Nikephorovich Bogoyavlensky was born in the province of Tambov of pious parents on January 1, 1848. His father, a priest, was later murdered. The…
The holy New Martyr Auxentius was born in 1690 in the diocese of Vellas, part of the Metropolitan district of Ioannina in Greece. When he was a young man, he moved to Constantinople with his parents and became a furrier. Later, he left his trade and went to work on the ships, leading a sinful life…
Saint Anatole (Zertsalov) was born with the name Alexis in the village of Bobolya on March 24, 1824. His father, Moses Kopev, was a deacon, and his mother’s name was Anna. The parents were exceptionally devout Christians who hoped that their children would enter the monastic life. Their only…
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Bishop Gabriel (Kikodze) was born November 15, 1825, in the village of Bachvi, in the western Georgian district of Ozurgeti in Guria. His father was the priest Maxime Kikodze. From 1840 to 1845, Gabriel (Gerasime in the world) studied in Tbilisi and at the theological seminaries in Pskov and Saint…
Saint Vetranion (or Bretanion) lived during the IV century, and was the Bishop of Tomis, (now Constanța, Romania) in the Province of Scythia Minor.1 Little is known about his life except that he came from Cappadocia, and was elected to the See of Tomis about the year 360.2 He confessed the…